AI avatar joins stage at INTA’s annual meeting opener

An appearance by an artificial intelligence digital avatar was the surprise at this year’s International Trademark Association (INTA) annual meeting’s opening ceremony in Singapore.

Danny Marti, head of public affairs and global policy at  Tencent, shared the stage with a digitised version of himself, following presentations from a senior Singapore minister,  Rotary International, and the  World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Atlanta was revealed as the host city for the association’s 2024 meeting with Dubai chosen for 2026. The 2025 host city is yet to be announced.

Over 8,000 participants from 140 countries are attending this year’s event, which officially runs from May 16-20. But for many attendees—who spend the week meeting clients and business partners—the occasion begins earlier and finishes later.

Being held in Asia for only the second time ever, the meeting has seen 35% of registrants coming from the region—a significant uptick on previous years. Opening proceedings, Singapore’s Edwin Tong SC, minister for culture, community and youth and second minister for law, said he was “thrilled” the city state was hosting the event for the first time.

Tong peppered his speech with familiar taglines from brands, encouraging the audience to spot them so “hopefully you will pay attention to me”, he joked. “You’ve gotta catch them all.”

Asia’s trademark growth

“It is not surprising that trademark filings follow consumption activities”, said Tong, who worked for many years at Singapore firm Allen & Gledhill before joining public office.

“Everywhere you want to be, you [should] protect yourself. You just do it, because you want to sell your products and services in those markets.” Noting that of 18.1 million trademark classes filed globally in 2021, Asian filings accounted for about 70%.

“This has grown significantly. That tells me not only are trademark filings growing in Asia but the rate is tremendous,” said Tong.

The growth extends to the metaverse and NFTs, both areas in which Asia is “a forerunner”, he added.

Prior to the opening presentation, the International Property Office of Singapore ( IPOS) published a pair of studies, analysing the link between IP and business performance.

Looking at Singapore’s largest businesses,  one of the studies discovered that businesses with strong brands and/or patent portfolios had about double the revenue, net profit, and market capitalisation as compared with businesses without.

The other  study found that in the past decade, Singapore enterprises with trademarks delivered more than 10% increase in profits, when compared with businesses without registered IP.

And businesses with both trademarks and patents also delivered around two times more profits, as compared with businesses without registered IP, the report said. “We want to tell businesses, you are in safe hands if you come to Singapore,” said Tong.

Tong highlighted the country’s attempts to improve the valuation of IP, and this year will launch an intangibles disclosure framework to help businesses disclose and communicate their intangibles, and publish a study that looks at strengthening the valuation of intangibles assets.

“We are so glad to welcome you here,” said Tong. “We also managed to turn down the temperature a little bit, for you,” he said wryly, during a heatwave that has left registrants seeking shelter indoors.

Community and commerce

INTA president Jomarie Fredericks, deputy general counsel, chief IP and brand counsel at Rotary International, shared a personal story that delved into her family history and extolled the virtues of being part of a community.

“When you belong, you have a sense of who you are, you have a community. What you give to INTA you will get back tenfold," said Fredericks, who urged the audience to “think about how you can parlay this experience into an opportunity for good”.

Fredericks was followed by the president of Rotary International, Jennifer Jones, who shared powerful stories of the volunteer network’s effort to fight malaria.

Describing the common ground shared by Rotary and INTA, Jones said: “We’re both rooted in communities around the world and we all believe in strong brands.

“Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.”

WIPO director: ‘Good things come to those who wait’

Daren Tang, the director of WIPO, himself a Singaporean, then spoke of his satisfaction that the meeting was being held in his home city, after its appearance was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Good things come to those who wait,” said Tang, who went on to highlight the growth in global trademark applications, particularly from countries such as India.

In 2006, India’s IP office received fewer than 100,000 domestic trademark applications a year.

“But now this figure has mushroomed to close to half-a-million,” said Tang. “With rising demand comes rising expectations,” he added, before highlighting tools that have been rolled out to cater for this growth, such as the Madrid Protocol’s  ePortal.

Highlighting the high-profile Hermès v Rothschild and Nike v StockX cases, Tang also said trademarks were helping to create the rules governing the metaverse and NFTs.

Tencent shows off AI tech

Marti, of China media and tech giant Tencent, offered a glimpse of the future, giving a rousing speech about the metaverse, gaming, and digital products, before being interrupted by a huge, digitised version of himself.

Marti spoke of his personal and professional pride that the association’s meeting was being hosted in Asia.

“This region now stands at the leading edge of global trends, revolutionising how companies for example make and offer goods and interact with customers.

“Let us use our time together to consider what is next for technology, brands, marketing and consumers. And for IP, as we embark on this journey to digitisation,” said Marti.

Marti then held a ‘conversation’ with a digital avatar, who appeared on a giant screen behind the Tencent policy chief. ‘Digital Danny’ was created by Tencent teams in  Lightspeed and  Timi Studio Group, using 110 cameras to generate more than 20,000 images of his face.

“At Tencent we speak less of a metaverse per se and talk more about hyper digital reality. Simply put, this concept integrates the digital world with the real world, creating a blended experience,” explained Marti. “Think of this experience as extended reality.”

“The next phase of the internet will feature massive, scalable, and immersive virtual worlds and extended environments,” he added.

INTA CEO Etienne Sanz de Acedo then outlined the association’s future plans, revealing the “vibrant” city of Atlanta as next year’s host.

“Houston and Atlanta were very loyal to us when we had to cancel in 2020—we like to reward loyalty,” he explained.

The next international venue host announced was Dubai in 2026, aligning with INTA’s role of “promoting intellectual property everywhere”.